ICAB awards 23 corporates for best annual reports

Twenty-three firms in Bangladesh yesterday received the prestigious ICAB National Awards for Best Presented Accounts and Reports for the year 2019.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi handed over the prizes to the winners at an event at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

Among the awardees, IDLC Finance, one of the top non-bank financial institutions in the country, became the overall winner.

Eighteen 18 entities also received the certificates of merit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), according to a press release. 

In the banking sector (private) category, Brac Bank secured the first prize. Shahjalal Islami Bank and Bank Asia came second jointly.

Mutual Trust Bank and Mercantile Bank won the third prize, also jointly.

In the category of the financial services sector, IDLC Finance scooped the first prize. IPDC Finance won the second prize and LankaBangla Finance the third prize.

British American Tobacco (BD) won the top honour in the manufacturing category. Orion Pharma won the second prize, and Summit Power got the third prize.

Grameenphone was the winner in the communication and information technology category. 

Green Delta Insurance was the top winner in the insurance category. Prime Insurance came second, and Reliance Insurance third. 

In the public sector entities category, the top honour went to the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.

Sajida Foundation secured the highest accolade in the non-governmental organisation category. Ghashful and Codec became the joint second prize winners, and ActionAid Bangladesh won the third prize.

Unique Hotel & Resorts Ltd was the first prize winner in the service sector category, while Golden Harvest Agro Industries received the top award in the agriculture category.

In the integrated reporting category, the first prize went to LankaBangla Finance, the second prize to IDLC Finance, and the third prize to Bank Asia and Brac Bank.

IDLC Finance and LankaBangla Finance came out as the joint first prize winners in the corporate governance disclosures segment. Bank Asia came second, and Islami Bank Bangladesh and Brac Bank came joint third.

A nine-member jury board led by Md Matiul Islam, chairman of the Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company, and a former finance secretary, reviewed the recommended list of the winners.

Speaking as the chief guest, the commerce minister said chartered accountants are not only dealing with the conventional area of accounting, taxation, auditing and management consultancy, they are also involved in overall strategic business planning and its effective implementation for business growth and the overall economic development of Bangladesh.

"They are now a very vital part of financial and macro-economic management. Their expertise, input and contribution in generating government revenues as well as building confidence for investment are admirable."

"I hope your professional excellence will continue to add value to ensure good governance. It will create an environment of business confidence among stakeholders."

ICAB President Muhammad Farooq said the role of the ICAB is to promote, enhance and improve the framing of the financial statements and reports to reflect fair views of the entities to safeguard the interest of the investors, the government, stakeholders and other users.

The objective of the awards is to promote transparent reporting and adequate disclosures, through the application of accounting or financial reporting and auditing standards, thereby meeting stakeholder expectations and high levels of professional ethics, he said.

"This reflects ICAB's firm commitment to serving the public interest and contributing to the economic development of the country."

Jafar Uddin, commerce secretary, Md Hamid Ullah Bhuiyan, chairman of the Financial Reporting Council, and Mohammed Humayun Kabir, chairman of the review committee for published accounts and reports, also attended the event.